“There’s so many good judges out there,” Rep. Mike Turner, D-Old Hickory said at a hearing to discuss whether the Court of the Judiciary and other judicial commissions should be retained or done away with. “The problem is we’re not addressing the bad judges, and that’s what concerns me.”The hearing featured testimony by several irate litigants who complained of mistreatment by Tennessee judges.
“The testimony hear today, if one-tenth of what these people are saying is true, there are gross miscarriages of justice going on here,” Turner continued. “If we don’t address this, I’m telling you, the judiciary system as we know it today will change drastically if you don’t take care of yourself.”
Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Jeff Bivins said the state’s judges hope to do just that. Bivins said they are in the process of drafting legislation to address lawmakers’ concerns about the Court of the Judiciary, the judicial disciplinary panel that conducts most of its work behind closed doors.
Full Article and Source:
TN Lawmakers Warn Judges to Change Their Ways
Hooray for the legislators!
ReplyDeleteRepresentative hit this on the nail when he observes that "The problem is we’re not addressing the bad judges".
ReplyDeleteThe Court of the Judiciary Presiding Judge totally missed the boat when he replied “What we don’t do, is we don’t sweep things under the rug”
See http://home.roadrunner.com/~tvfields/dir.htm#FloridaBar for one example of how disciplinary committees operated by the courts and the Bar sweep complaints under the rug. Concerning this one example, Police Detective Joe Roubicek has observed "“obvious contradictions abound and one would wonder what the judge was thinking. As for the lawmakers and what they can do about it, what we can all do about it, I think that the answer is to set reasonable guidelines to properly recognize and define a person's lack of capacity to give consent in these matters....but you have already done that in all your proposals over the years. You've suggested putting specific safeguards in place for legislation, I know ... it seems to me that in your case there is no way that your father should have been recognized as having capacity while in his deathbed. THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN LAWS IN PLACE TO PREVENT THAT AND PREVENT ANY JUDGE FROM DOING WHAT THIS ONE DID.” (emphasis added)
Let's do everything we can to encourage lawmakers in Tennessee and elsewhere to put such laws in place. We know from long experience that the leadership of the various associations of judges and lawyers will fight such laws tooth and nail.
Do judicial discipline bodies cover up complaints because they're embarrassed or because they're corrupt?
ReplyDeleteThelma it is not because they are corrupt or embarassed but because they are graduates of the Penn State School of Cover Your Arse which was founded and is funded by the Catholic Church.
ReplyDeleteif ya know what I mean
This is a great article to give my legislators. And to Thelma, the answer is they're corrupt.
ReplyDeleteThis is good news. There are good judges out there and we're glad to have them. But, there are far too many bad judges out there and they need to go.
ReplyDeleteit's time to clean the house i agree there are excellent judges i know that personally but we need to consider the process of eliminating removing and impeaching the judges who show they are unable to rule from the bench the process of oversight is #1 issue while the legislators are drafting new laws but if the current laws are being disregarded what the heck good will new laws do? we need citizens on the panels no shredding complaints no dismissing for those who are clout heavy and we know life is a pyramid and we're at the bottom my fellow americans we the little people pay their salaries benefits retirement packages but we are powerless at the bottom of the pyramid being crushed like a pancake
ReplyDelete